Improvement in clothes-pounders



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE., Y

BENJAMIN F. FREY, OF FREDONIA, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN CLOTHES-POUNDERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 155,5 [4, dated September 29, 1874; application filed May 20, 1874.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I,4 BENJAMIN F. FREY, of Fredonia, Chautauqua county, NewYork, have invented certain Improvements in Clothes Pounders or Washers, of which the following is a specification:

My invention relates to that class of implements or apparatus used in washing clothes by which the atmosphere is utilized as an auxiliary to the operation of pounding and rubbilig.

Heretofore it has been customary to provide the handle ofthe plunger-head with a passage, in which is located a valve opening inward toward the plunger-head, so that by raising the device the air passes into the chamber in the plunger-head through the hollow handle, and when the device is lowered the air isv forced from said plunger-heard among the clothing, and causing the water to impregnate it. This construction of device has been found ineffectual, inasmuch as the water, being expelled from the plunger among the clothes, does not operate with advantage, as the force is insufficient. y

My invention consists of a plunger-head having an upper and lower compartment, communicating with each other through an opening in the partition which divides said plungerhead. The walls in the upper chamber are provided with an opening and an outwardlyopening valve for closing and openin g said opening, whereby, when the device is pushed down among the clothes, the air is forced from the lower chamberinto the upper chamber and out through the valve-openings in its walls, and when the plunger is raised a vacuum is created in the plunger-head, thus impellin g or sucking the water upward through the clothes into the upper chamber.

In the drawings the gure illustrates a vertical central section of the device.

The plunger-head consists of a box or cup having a handle, d, and a wall, g, and divided into an upper chamber, a, and a lower chamber, h, by means of a partition, e, having an aperture, f, by which said chambers are made to communicate with each other. In the wall g of the upper chamber is formed one or more apertures covered by a valve or valves, b, attached to spring-arms c.

When the plunger-head is pressed into the clothes, causing the wall g to rest among the clothes, the air in the lower chamber h will be forcedV into the upper chamber a through the aperture j' and out through the valve-openings; and when the plunger-head is raised a partial vacuum will be created in the chamber h, and cause the water to force itself, by such vacuum, into the `said lower chamber, and in its passage through the clothes to effectually cleanse the same.

It will be observed that from my construction of a clothes-pounder a suction is created upon the clothes to be washed, thereby forcin g the water or suds from the under side of the clothes upward through the same, and rendering the device much more reliable than those heretofore constructed.

I claim as my invention- The combination of the p1unger-head,con structed with the upper and lower chambers, 'communicating with each other through the perforated partition, and having an aperture 0r apertures in its wall, with the valve or valves for opening and closing said aperture or apertures, substantially as and for the purpose described.

BENJAMIN F. FREY.V

Witnesses:

M. H. TAYLOR, NATHAN S. PAYNE. 

